Ontario Mortgage Rates: February 2024

February 2024 -- Canadian Mortgage & Housing Market Snapshot

1) Bank of Canada rate decisions - No Bank of Canada rate announcement occurred in February 2024. - The policy rate remained: - 5.00% throughout February 2024 - The most recent decision before February was: - January 24, 2024 -- held at 5.00% - The next decision after February was: - March 6, 2024 -- also held at 5.00% - So for February 2024 specifically, the effective overnight rate remained 5.00% all month.

2) Mortgage rate snapshot -- February 2024 The broad February 2024 mortgage-rate picture was:

• Prime rate: about 7.20%
• Variable rates:
• generally in the mid-6% to low-7% range
• still highly restrictive relative to long-run norms
• 5-year fixed:
• generally in the mid-5% range
• fixed pricing had improved somewhat versus the worst 2023 levels, but remained elevated
• Practical takeaway:
• February 2024 remained a high-rate mortgage market
• financing conditions were no longer worsening rapidly, but they were still constraining affordability and demand

Caveat: I did not find a single authoritative national source giving an exact Canada-wide “average 5-year fixed” and “average variable” for February 2024 only, so these remain approximate market ranges.

Canada (national) Month-specific reporting for February 2024 showed: - National home sales: up 3.7% month-over-month from January - National average sale price: about $685,809 - up about 3.5% year-over-year - Months of inventory: around 4.0 months - Interpretation: - national activity strengthened modestly - prices were modestly above year-ago levels - the market appeared to be stabilizing rather than weakening further

GTA / Ontario proxy For TRREB / GTA February 2024: - Sales: 5,607 - Year-over-year sales change: +17.9% - Average selling price: $1,108,720 - up 1.1% year-over-year - New listings: 11,396 - up 13.2% year-over-year - Interpretation: - GTA sales improved from February 2023 - prices were slightly positive year-over-year - listings were also higher, suggesting more active participation on the supply side than a year earlier

Ontario-wide I did not find a clean primary Ontario-wide February 2024 housing dataset in this run that I’m comfortable quoting directly. The strongest Ontario-specific evidence here remains TRREB / GTA.

4) Regulatory / policy news -- February 2024 I did not verify a major new OSFI, FSRA, or federal mortgage-policy shock landing specifically in February 2024.

Best month-specific characterization - February 2024 was largely a high-rates hold month - The relevant policy backdrop remained: - BoC at 5.00% - inflation easing gradually - housing participants increasingly focused on when rate cuts might eventually begin - No fresh February-only mortgage-rule change clearly stood out in this pass ## 5) Private / alternative lending -- February 2024 I did not find a clean Ontario-only private-lending data release for February 2024 in this run.

Best month-specific characterization - private / alternative lending likely remained relevant for: - renewal-stressed borrowers - borrowers unable to qualify at conventional lenders - short-term bridge or restructuring borrowers - But I do not have a clean February-only Ontario metric to quote directly - The dominant story was: - stabilization in mainstream housing activity under still-high rates

Major headlines - No BoC move in February - National sales rise modestly - GTA sales and prices improve slightly year-over-year - Listings also improve - suggesting a more balanced market than the extreme scarcity seen in prior years

Fraud / court / lender events - I did not find a single clearly dominant mortgage fraud case, lender collapse, or court ruling that I could confidently verify as a defining February 2024 mortgage headline in this run

Bottom line for February 2024 - BoC: no February decision; policy rate stayed 5.00% - Mortgage rates: remained high, though relatively stable - Housing market: showed modest improvement - Canada: average price about $685,809 - GTA: 5,607 sales, average price $1,108,720 - Policy: no major new February-only mortgage-policy shock verified - Alternative lending: likely still relevant at the margin, but no clean February-only Ontario figure verified

Caveats - You asked for February 2024 only, so I kept this month-specific. - I could verify the policy-rate continuity strongly and the broad market pattern from month-specific reporting/search-result evidence. - I did not directly extract a clean primary Ontario-wide February 2024 dataset in this run. - I also did not** find a single authoritative national “average 5-year fixed / average variable” series for February 2024 only, so the mortgage-rate section remains an approximate market snapshot rather than a precise official average.